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Current,
Connected and Captivating: Using Chrome Books to Teach Science and Social
Studies

Being able to access the internet using
the Chrome books has made the world of difference to how I deliver my Social
Studies and Science curriculums. The Chrome books, purchased with
the monies from our Teaching Learning Leadership Program grant, allow my
students to access information that is up to date, connected to the curriculum
and interesting.

All of us remember going to the text
book provided for us in grade school and thinking, “How on earth does this
apply to me? These people look like they are from another place and
another time.” All of a sudden, “that” kid starts messing
around and the class goes off the rails and little learning took place.
Is it any wonder that when mom and dad asked at dinner that night what
happened to you that day, you replied with a well-thought out, “Nothing?”

The opportunities we have using the
Chrome books and the Desire 2 Learn Blended Learning Platform have improved the
overall experience for students who are more technologically capable and not
very engaged in learning. In the grade six unit, Understanding Earth and Space
Systems, we have watched Chris Hadfield cut his fingernails in space, discussed
applicable space related Ted talks, used interactive Ontario Education Resource
Bank learning objects dealing with a variety of topics including the phases of
the moon, finding and accessing the amazing website: Scale of the Universe 2.
That was all within one week, during a time of day that usually would be
hard to earn and keep their attention. Add in some direct teaching and a
healthy amount of playing with flour to simulate meteor crashes and we have a
whole crew of students excited about space exploration.

Information that is curriculum
connected has been something I have personally struggled with over the time
that I have taught. A beginning teacher error that I had fallen into
concerned the mathematics text book. Following it exactly for the entire
first term, I was horrified to realize the chapter dedicated to geometry didn’t
cover A SINGLE expectation of that grade level. Thirteen years have passed
since then; I have always operated right from the curriculum since, and have
found that sometimes finding content to deliver the right expectation was
difficult.

Take the following grade six Social
Studies expectation from the newly revised document:

A2 Inquiry: The Perspectives of Diverse
Communities

FOCUS ON: Perspective

By the end of Grade 6, students will:

A2.1

formulate questions to guide investigations into
different perspectives on the historical and/or contemporary experience of two
or more distinct communities in Canada (e.g., the development of the reserve
system from the perspective of First Nations, European settlers, and the
federal government; the forced relocation of Japanese Canadians during the
Second World War from the perspective of Japanese Canadians, the government at
the time, and the government that issued an apology to Japanese Canadians; the
formation of ethnic neighbourhoods from the perspective of the newcomers, their
children, the people already in the neighbourhood, the local school, and/or the
agencies and governments that provide services to the neighbourhood)

Sample questions: “Why was the Chinese head tax created? What was the
thinking of the government that imposed it? How did the policy affect Chinese
immigrants to Canada and their families in China?” “Why did some people think
Louis Riel was a hero while others thought he was a traitor?” “Why do newcomers
to Canada tend to settle in neighbourhoods with people from the same
country/region?”

Had this expectation landed at my door
in the years before we had an interactive Bright Links projector connected to
the Internet, let alone access to time with Chrome books, I would have lost my
mind. Social studies are not my strength. I can talk to students
about science for weeks without having to check information or find new facts;
social studies expectations are where I find everything to be a chore.

In taking apart the expectation I see
that I need information about the following:

historical communities - I have resources that
I can use from the old curriculum – aboriginal, European explorers and
settlers – but I will most likely investigate where I can find student
friendly information about these communities on the internet so the
students can act more autonomously

contemporary communities - I need to look up
the statistics of the immigrant population of the community I teach in and
find information about what happens to newly landed immigrants upon
arrival, I might find an online expert who can speak to their experience
trying to assimilate to life in Canada

distinct - make sure that the students
understand exactly what this word means – hand held dictionary or again, www.dictionary.com
is very useful

perspective - give the lesson about
perspective to students that involves them looking at the room from the
floor, their desk and on top of their desks and seeing how things that are
essentially the same look different from many angles

Of the four distinct parts of this one
expectation, only one can be readily accessed in the classroom with no
additional information – the perspective activity, the next can be found in a
dictionary – the word distinct – but my students would more likely use the
Internet to search the meaning, and the final two parts of the expectation? -
Definitely needs Internet research time, both my students and myself.

Another
key part to this expectation needs to be pointed out: had this come
before access to so much information the work I expected from my students would
be at a lower calibre. When you have students who can access information
from somewhere other than the school library you can expect more research to
occur and the level of research to be higher. A school library, because
of time constraints, budget and sheer volume of books required cannot keep up
to the valuable content found on the Internet.

Having
readily available access to the Chrome books every day and therefore the
Internet, has made my anxiety during planning Social Studies almost disappear.
I still need to put in the time to make sure I have covered the right
information but at least I have the tools required to deliver what is needed.

The last and most important part of how
these tools have changed my teaching would definitely be how interesting I can
make the content that I can deliver. Teaching Space in grade six can be
difficult – we can’t all go for a joyride around the moon – but what I can do
is show them some people who have. I. love teaching with the
world of information at my fingertips.

Some of our favourite sites that we
have enjoyed either together as a class or partnered on a Chrome book are:

In conclusion, I don’t think I
could ever go back to teaching without access to Chrome books. Being able
to access the internet and other perks of the machine (such as access to Google
docs) has changed how I plan, what I plan and the level of expectations I give
to my students. The time made available by this project has allowed
my students to access information that is up to date, connected to the
curriculum and interesting.

From the blackboard to the Smart board, teaching has changed drastically in my ten plus years in education. This year in particular has been a journey into the world of D2L, Google Apps for Education, Chromebooks and working with my colleagues on our TLLP project. Implementing technology in the classroom has made my lessons more engaging, students more accountable for their learning and providing descriptive feedback more immediate.

In the classroom, coming up with interactive lesson plans for every subject and every lesson is time consuming. This year I have been using D2L (Desire to Learn) which is an elearning website set up by the Ministry of Education in Ontario (https://wcdsb.elearningontario.ca/). On this site I have been able to use activities that have already been generated that are grade specific and align with the Ontario curriculum. These activities are located on OERB (Ontario Educational Resources Bank) and are easy to embed right into the D2L site. By incorporating them into the site students do not require any other passwords to access the activity and are not searching the internet to locate a website or URL address (which use to be very time consuming and could lead them finding inappropriate content). The students in my class are able to navigate the site easily and look forward to the online activities.

More recently, my students have become familiar with some Google apps for education such as Google docs and Google slides. They become excited when they are able to share their work with me and their peers. Last week I shared Google doc file with them. In groups they had to fill in a portion of a table on the shared file. In real time we had the entire class filling in their portion of the graphic organizer. We were able to edit and ask questions. It was really neat to see the table filling in on the Brightlink in front of the class right before our eyes. Students were providing feedback to one another and all students were participating at the same time.

Using technology in the class daily with the Chromebooks has really helped keep the low-level learner interested in academics and allows for them to be part of activities at an entry point suited for them. For example, most of the activities on D2L have an audio component and gives instructions orally and in writing. This allows for struggling readers to participate but understand the activity without much intervention from the teacher. They are able to review activities done at school, at home. Strengthening this connection between home and school has made the students more accountable for their own learning.

Gone are the days in my classroom when a student says "I left my assignment at school," or "My USB didn't work." Using Google docs and slides for assignments gives students the opportunity to work on projects they started at school, at home as they wish. I am noticing that the students who rarely handed in work on time before, are more eager to complete tasks because they have the technology to help them along. For those on an IEP, the fact that they can complete drafts on a Google Docs is a lot less threatening or cumbersome than writing something out by hand multiple times. The stigma of being the only kid with a laptop-which was a sure sign of an IEP is gone.

Having the Chromebooks daily has also allowed for the students in my class to feel comfortable using the tools on Google with my support and that of their peers. Together we work through how certain features worked on Google Docs and Google Slides primarily. I really think that having them work in collaboration with one another has improved their confidence in technology. Being able to work side-by-side coaching them along when needed gave them more accountability towards learning. In my class two student share a Chromebook. When they are not working on a group or partner task, they must split the time allotted between themselves and thus learning the ropes of time management and sharing.

According to Black, Harrison, Lee & Wiliam (2003), “Descriptive feedback is the most powerful tool for improving student learning.” One of the newest tools that I use to provide descriptive feedback with Google is the ‘Share’ and ‘Comment’ capability on Google docs. When students are able to share their work with me, I can comment on a draft and highlight specific errors or give positive reinforcement much more timely than in the past. I still believe that having face to face teacher-student conferences are very important. In a busy school day of a Junior split grade class, getting to meet with all students in one lesson/day is not always feasible. Now I am able to give feedback even when students aren’t at school and I don’t have to keep their work to correct it. They are able to continue to work on a task and I can still give suggestions or comments simultaneously. Students are also sharing work with other students and becoming more proficient at giving feedback to their peers.

Having the technology so readily available in the classroom is transforming how I teach and is moving my own learning curve in yet another direction. I am surprised at how quickly I have made the shift towards using technology in education to this degree. In this past term especially, students show that they are enthusiastic about learning in all subject areas whether it be an activity on OERB or video that engages students critical thinking on D2L. Students in my class have ownership over their learning and are able to access activities that we do in class, at home. They are taking part in building their knowledge when they conference with peers in person or when sharing documents to complete a group task. Providing more timely and useful feedback during a task is just another way technology is moving my students towards building success. I am embracing this change and hope that others will also see the great benefits of allowing technology in this manner into their classrooms.

Last week I was involved in some professional development at my school, and had the opportunity to speak with the guest teacher in my classroom. He had positive things to say about his day, and he also gave me the greatest compliment I have ever had. He said that my students knew exactly what they should be doing and when, and they were able to work independently and collaboratively and the day practically ran itself.

I felt so proud! I told my students the next day how they were showing that they were ready for high school and indeed “real life”. I pointed out that my principal doesn’t direct me in every aspect of my day, and likely their parents’ bosses don’t either. Instead we are trusted to know what we should be doing at any given time. I applauded them on the development of this skill and later sat down and asked a few of them to reflect on this. I explained that in education lingo we refer to this as “gradual release of responsibility.”

Their answers were really interesting. They were able to point out not only the benefits but the pitfalls of taking on more responsibility for their own learning. Without knowing the jargon, each student I spoke to mentioned differentiated learning - that students were able to work at their own pace and reread information they didn’t get the first time - as the best thing about gradual release. They were more engaged when finding information themselves rather than listening to a lecture or copying notes. And even when they did mention the potential problems - they all said the same thing, which was getting off track - one person did mention that they were able to use that as a reward. They would get so much done and then take a few minutes to check email or surf around a little bit. I think that sounds like what a lot of us do!

Before my head got too big however, I had a cold dose of reality. Students have been working on a cell unit using their blended learning site from the OERB. They have been very engaged and have enthusiastically found their way around a microscope and were able to produce beautiful drawings of plant and animal cells. As I monitored their work, everyone seemed to be doing their job and I spent my time going over other things with individual students.

And here is where the cautionary part comes in. Lulled into a false sense of security, I failed to check in with the class as a whole to ensure they had the main points, and that there weren’t any misconceptions. When it came time to do a quiz on the plant and animal cells, they were all able to label the cell parts and even describe their function. They knew the animal cell was roundish and the plant cell was squarish, but few could tell me *why*. They had somehow completely missed the function and importance of the cell wall in plants.

Frequent check-ins are a vital component of gradual release. At the end of a session when students have been working largely independently, bring the class together and ask for contributions of their learning. This can be done in many ways - shyer students like to use mini whiteboards or communicate through social media platforms like todaysmeet.com. And if they don’t provide you with the information you are looking for - like the most obvious difference between a plant and an animal cell - then you need to go old school and give them the information.

Gradual release of responsibility empowers students and develops all of their learning skills. But while teacher takes on more of a role of coach, sometimes teacher still needs to be teacher, and not only monitor to ensure students are on-task, but to check for misconceptions and understanding.